I spend a lot of time criticizing conservative talk-radio hosts, and some people think I'm beating my head against the keyboard.
Too bad for me. Here I go again.
I can't accept that KLZ host's Ken Clark and Jason Worley agree with Sen. Ted Harvey when he says, on the radio, that Rep. Morgan Carroll's bill requiring hospitals to post a list of services that they do not provide is like "putting yellow stars on the door of religious hospitals."
Even if you disagree with her bill, proposed legislation like Carroll's and Nazi Germany have zero in common with one another.
The Nazis killed people and Carroll's bill informs them. Carroll's bill would've helped consumers make a purchase. That's it.
Even if you're anti-abortion, Carroll's bill can't be remotely linked to genocide in any way.
So, if you're Ken Clark and Jason Worley, how could you possibly listen to this exchange without objecting?
Sen. Kevin Grantham(at 16:30 in the podcast): "Ken, I kind of wonder if Patrick Malone would have made the same statement, or did even ask the same question to Rep. Carrol when she was running her Senate Bill 93, wondering whether she is going to have a legacy... or she's worried about her legacy as a bigot for what she's doing to hospitals and to private religious hospitals. Doesn'tthat make her a bigot as well?"
Asked to explain, Grantham said that SB 93 would require "religious hospitals to post the services they do not provide," which would be a requirement targeted specifically at catholic hospitals. This is not correct, since it would apply to all hospitals, but Grantham maintained that the bill was targeted specifically at abortion issues and other life issues.
Later, in a discussion about how the Democrats' strategy on civil unions will backfire, Harvey said:
Sen. Ted Harvey (at 39:32): I don't like to repeat the negative and talk about what their talking points are. And what my talking points are is that this is an attack on religion. This is [an] attack on the right of conscience, and the ability of people to exercise their faith the way that they believe is best for them. And I think that the people of faith are seeing this for what it is, and it's a direct attack on them and they are now not sitting on the couch, not sitting in the pews, and just trying to live their lives and take their kids to school, and go to work and do those kinds of things. They are truly scared of what this is we're talking about. We're talking about an entire party in the United States that thinks it's okay to force people of religious faith to do something against their religion. And that's never happened in the United States before. You heard Kevin [Grantham] talking about Senate Bill 93 where it forced hospitals to put on their door a yellow star, for all practical purposes. To say, 'this is who we are, and we have to tell you who we are.' Never in American history have we had a major political party say that that's okay. And that is what you are seeing right now. And people of faith across the country are rising up and saying, 'No, not in our country.' SB-93 is like putting yellow stars on the door of religious hospitals.
The Aurora Republican, who has served in the Army and the Marines, marched into Elbert County Saturday (which isn't even in his new district), opened his mouth to discuss defense spending, and promptly stuck a combat boot in it:
"I don't know whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. I don't know that. But I do know this, that in his heart, he's not an American. He's just not an American."
How many of you would advise Mike Coffman that the best way to introduce himself in a new, more competitive district is via stories on the top-rated TV station and in the state's largest newspaper in which he essentially puts on the tri-cornered hat and shows the world his "birther" card?
And then offering an apology that contains more arrogance than remorse?
Thanks for the easy question, Curtis. Coffman's arrogance came through quite clearly once again. And Republicans' reliance on smear and innuendo vs. policies and solutions should tell you one other thing that is also quite clear: both sides don't do it.
* - well, Coffman supporters aren't quite up to using today's technology yet, but it's something. But, if you really want to highlight Coffman's lowness, click on each link in the post - that's hi tech!
In 9News' story yesterday about Rep. Mike Coffman's statement that "in his heart," Obama is "just not an American," Political Analyst Floyd Ciruli was paraphrased as saying Coffman's comment is a "blow to his moderate image."
I'm tainted, I know, and possibly unable to fathom the mainstream image of Coffman, but my perception is that Coffman is pretty far to the right on the political spectrum, a far cry from a "moderate."
So I called Ciruli to find out if, indeed, he thought Coffman had a "moderate image."
Years ago I gave up on watching the local news channels. The fact that they're still profitable means they must share an audience with the women who keep the toddler pageants on the air. Yesterday, my friend Ty Link, who has been an activist with the MMJ community for years now, was a part of FOX31's "investigative report" on the differences before and after driving while medicated on marijuana.
So while this was aired, I was sitting with Ty, with whom I'd had dinner in the hours preceeding and during which dinner she ranted about how the car simulator was "nothing like a car". She said the pedals were snuff next to each other, she had to request a booster of sorts because the wheel, which was shaped and positioned more like the wheel of a semi, was awkwardly high and distant. She noted that the acceleration and brakes were non-responsive relative to an actual driving experience. All of this resulted in inaccurate, unscientific results that should have tossed out but instead these obvious issues with the simulator were completely ignored and even capitalized upon by the story.
None of this was taken into account by the officer in the video, the wrinkled, talking heads who feel they must inject their idiotic commentary during and afterwards, and of course not the harried, eunuch "journalist" who has an audience to cow, sponsors to pleasure, and a deadline to beat with a stick.
So, yeah, yeah, yeah, shame on FOX31 for representing themselves and this piece as investigative or unbiased. They are evening television quaaludes for the sheep who once every so often mosey over to the voting booth and use the misinformation they've culled from the killing fields of local media to make decisions that effect people about whom they know next to nothing, thanks to our sickeningly inferior media culture.
This evening FOX31 will continue their investigation by showing a segment about drinking while driving in their arbitrary simulator. Joy.
As through all of this the Birthers, the Republican Congressmen and Senators, and the major media figures that continually repeat the lies are enabled by a Democratic establishment that thinks it will go away by magic.
Then when their representatives get in public and are confronted with reality, they slink back into the pretend world where a President, voted into office by a large margin of American Citizens, who is successfully performing his official duties, is some furrin', alien, Muslim Socialist who hate America.
"I don't know whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America. I don't know that. But I do know this, that in his heart, he's not an American. He's just not an American."
- Republican Mike Coffman - Colorado
They should all be ashamed: Boyles, Coffman, Pate, the Management of 850KOA, and the Management of Clear Channel.
All the closet racists with a public-supplied microphone who are playing to the fears of voters and the short attention spans of their listeners should be fired by their respective bosses for abuse of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The record warmth of March in the US as well as the warmth of April was more than just a set of numbers or a temporarily interesting headline. Along with the heat, precipitation for most of the southern half of the country has been below average in the past few months. The result? At least some level of drought conditions exists today:
CBS4's Shaun Boyd should let her viewers know that Mitt Romney is misrepresenting an interview Boyd had with Romney when he was in Denver May 10.
In an interview last week, a radio host asked Romney: "I saw that you got a little testy with one reporter who wanted to talk about marijuana and same-sex marriage yesterday. Has this been a real curve ball for ya?"
Romney replied: "She asked two or three questions about same-sex marriage and civil unions and then about medical marijuana, and I finally laughed and said, You know, there are some really big issues out there, like if Iran is going to get a nuclear weapon, how to change leadership in Syria, and what it's going to take to get this economy moving again, one after another. Why don't you ask about those? We finally got around to that."
Two problems here, one is that Romney never mentioned Syria in his response to Boyd.
But more importantly, Boyd asked Romney about civil unions and marijuana, and she still had over half of the five-minute interview remaining.
Romney interjected after about two-and-a-half minutes and asked Boyd why she was asking him insignificant questions, which, as Boyd pointed out, aren't insignificant in Colorado anyway.
Listening to Romney's recounting of his interview with Boyd, when he says Boyd "finally" got around to economic issues, you'd think Boyd used most of her time on civil unions and marijuana, when in reality, there was plenty of time left for other important issues.
There will be miniscule rights payments to the state or other owner, the profits will most likely be going out of state, but the effects will be right here in our very own back yard:
In Hickenlooper's home state, there has been tension over how much local communities can regulate drilling within their borders, on top of statewide regulations. Hickenlooper says it would be "very tough" on industry if each county had a different set of regulations.
Here's an idea that will never happen: how about we add an excise tax to all energy extracted within the U.S. - a fair one, but one that keeps in mind the enormous profits of oil companies - and put all that money into wind and solar projects? (UPDATE: Looks like the brilliant Keith Ellison and Bernie Sanders have read my mind.) Hick has some words of encouragement for energy other than carbon-based. And the Governor's sympathy for energy extraction companies is very touching.
The Girl Scouts of the USA are now facing their highest-level challenge yet: An official inquiry by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
At issue are concerns about program materials that some Catholics find offensive, as well as assertions that the Scouts associate with other groups espousing stances that conflict with church teaching. The Scouts, who have numerous parish-sponsored troops, deny many of the claims and defend their alliances.
Is it possible Bishops are trying to gin up the conservative vote over this? They've shown little hesitation to act in an overtly political manner, and even though they still manage to get some things right, their overall record leaves something to be desired, especially for those who profess a love of God and a profound connection to Jesus.
It sounds to me more that the Bishops are adopting the Tea Party mindset that it's "my way or the highway." If that's the choice, then I'll support the Girl Scouts over U.S. Catholic Bishops any day of the week, and twice on Sunday.
BREAKING, per Lynn Bartels of the Denver Post via twitter:
Governor Hickenlooper to call for a special session; the agenda includes civil unions.
What a difference 12 hours makes! Meanwhile, President Barack Obama just announced he now favors gay marriage. When it rains, it pours. From the Huffington Post.
From Colorado's State Constitution, Article IV, Section 9 (thank you, David Henderson):
"The governor may, on extraordinary occasions convene the general assembly, by proclamation, stating therein the purpose for which it is to assemble; but at such special session no business shall be transacted other than that specially named in the proclamation. He may by proclamation, convene the senate in extraordinary session for the transaction of executive business."
Bottom line for activists: phone calls, tweets, emails, faxes, and rallies matter. Thanks to all who put pressure on the Governor to move from being one who believes in doing the right thing, and one who uses his executive privileges to lead others in doing the same!
President Barack Hussein Obama: I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married.
Here's the "no-brainer" part:
A plurality of Americans support this sensible policy, especially among younger demographics that will only grow over time.
Democrats have traditionally endorsed increasing the rights of all groups of Americans (except maybe Corporations).
Now, if he does win 49-states, Democrats shouldn't think this is an endorsement of other idiotic policies they still support like Afghanistan and Austerity. (And that's just the "a"'s.)
Stokols' report that Romney plans to meet with TV reporters caught the attention of Denver Post Editorial Page Editor Curtis Hubbard who tweeted, "Do Obama/Romney have stones to talk to print media? Apparently not." (Now would be a good time for The Post to throw a public fit over Romney's favoritism toward TV news, if he, in fact, avoids print reporters during his Colorado swing. Same with Obama, next time he comes.)
I'm looking forward to seeing the local TV interviews with Romney, but meanwhile (and maybe this will piss Hubbard off even more) Romney took questions from radio hosts at 8:30 this morning. Listen to Mitt Romney on KOA Radio May 9 2012 at 17:15.Here's one of the questions:
Steffan Tubbs: "How do you handle the criticism that Mitt Romney flip flops on issues...because you've certainly been accused of not sticking with one message, the most recent, your comments about the auto bailout?"
Romney: "Well actually, I had the same position on the auto bailout I had from the very beginning. I actually wrote about it. So nothing has changed there. I do understand that the nature of an opposition campaign is to try and create a narrative that is harmful to the opposition. And that's been used against me by my opponents, and frankly, it is not accurate. There is one place where I did change my view, and when I became governor, I became solidly pro-life, wrote an op-ed to the effect that I was going to be a pro-life governor, and that's been my position ever since. By the way, that was seven or eight years ago, and I continue to have that view. I'm happy to defend the things that I believe in. And by the way, if I were going to change positions, you would have seen a very different candidate than you have. My view is I'm sticking true to the things that I believe. I hope people are willing to understand that."
If I'm a radio host, or if I'm just about anybody at this point, I'd be thinking, "One flip flop?"
This may be old news, and I'm no lawyer, but as the Church Lady would say, "how conveeeeeeeeeeeeenient" for the American Legislative Exchange Council:
[I]n at least three separate states, legislation was passed exempting ALEC from lobbying laws. Via Mother Jones:
It could take several years for the IRS to decide whether ALEC is indeed a lobbying group required to register and disclose how much it spends on influencing legislation. But in three states - South Carolina, Indiana, and Colorado - ALEC has quietly, and by name, been specifically exempted from rules for lobbyists.
(c) Section 2-3-311 (2), Colorado Revised Statutes, declares that the council of state governments, the national conference of state legislatures, the energy council, and the American legislative exchange council are each a joint governmental agency to which the general assembly or its members may subscribe and for which membership fees or certain meeting expenses may be paid from legislative appropriations;
Is the lack of proper name capitalization a legislative trick or a normal way of writing and enacting legislation? Is ALEC's claim to be a non-profit organization at odds with its lobbying activities?
Maybe one of the bills sponsors - BY SENATOR(S) Cadman, Morse, Penry; also REPRESENTATIVE(S) Weissmann, Kerr J., Labuda, Lambert, Todd - or our esteemed Secretary of State Scott Gessler, who should be quite familiar with ALEC, can explain the intricacies of the law to us rubes in Bloggerlandia.
Chuck Todd/NBC News: You have said that there needs to be more partisanship in Washington. How do you square that with being a legislator?
Richard Mourdock, Republican: Well, what I've said is that I certainly think bipartisanship ought to consist of Democrats coming to the Republican point of view.
Bipartisanship means they have to come our way.
Will our Democratic leaders in Washington ever come to the realization that the "middle ground" policy is not an equidistant point between a crazy-off-the-charts Republican proposal and a proven, voter-supported Democratic or Progressive idea that has previously worked?
If Jared Polis and/or his spokesperson and/or his "strategist" can't figure out this simple political calculus then none of them will.
Bipartisanship is bullshit and voters say as much when asked. You don't see Republicans begging for bipartisanship on issue after issue. You're more likely to hear this from Right-wing Headhunter Grover Norquist about that precious bipartisanship so desired by Jared Polis and Michael Bennet:
C'est la víe, maybe Jared Polis relates better to the 1% than his peers in the Progressive Caucus.
From a spokesman:
Congressman Polis opposed the CPC budget and the House Republican budget but supported the bipartisan alternative budget, which is similar to the Simpson-Bowles proposal.
Republicans failed in their Swiftboat type attack of Barack Obama in 2008. But it worked on John Kerry in 2004 thanks to a slow-moving Dem defense, and as long as Karl Rove remains unindicted, the option will always be there for Republicans.
The woman said she was concerned about executive orders supposedly limiting the ability to protest in the vicinity of the Secret Service. Romney did not take a position on her concern, but he did say he was "happy" to look into it.
Don't take this too lightly, Dems.
This is a direct attack on the president and nicely conflates the Secret Service into the equation. Low-information voters, enabled by high-information lying politicians like Mitt Romney and Karl Rove, or mini-Rove Joel Arends, can be easily distracted from the truth and led to vote against someone who wasn't born here, wants the demise of the country, is a Secret Muslim, or any other fantasy that their minds can conjure.
We'll be hearing a lot about Medicare this election season, and reporters should study up on some of the expected flashpoints, so they can challenge candidates who try to deceive us.
"When we're talking about health care, I think we need to get the facts on the table," Tipton told YourShow host Brandon Rittiman. "The President, this administration, and the people who support them voted to take away $575 billion dollars out of Medicare, hurting our senior citizens."
As I've reported before, nonpartisan fact checkers have found this to be mostly or completely false. Politifact found the statement, "The new health care law 'will cut $500 billion from Medicare. That will hurt the quality of our care,'" to be deep in its "mostly false" category, which is as false as its ratings go. Fact checkers at the Washington Post also found that the $500 billion is saved in Medicare efficiencies, which are "wrung from health-care providers, not Medicare beneficiaries."
The temptation to accept the slowly crumbling conventional wisdom regarding "austerity" in DC must be enormous for our rookie senators. (I emphasize rookie and give no credit to Bennet's jury-rigged first session.) The citizens of Greece and France have had their say in recent elections by rejecting the all pain, no gain plans designed by the same geniuses that created the conditions of our current economies.
Stock markets have reacted to that rejection. CBS news said "the markets won't tolerate back sliding on austerity measures." Frankly, I take their losses as a good sign that the Masters of the Universe don't yet master our universe. I don't tolerate too well the fact that banks and brokerages have been given a free ride and can whine from vault to vault while middle class workers in Greece, France and here get to pay for the privilege of saving these banksters.
It's true our economy should be in better shape, and if the senate had killed its highly-undemocratic filibuster rule at the start of this congress it would almost surely be stronger. The laws passed in the House and presented to congress by the President were mainly concerned with putting cash in the economy by way of public works (bridges don't fix themselves, people) and pursuing proven Keynesian economic concepts:
"In the Great Depression leaders had an excuse: nobody really understood what was happening or how to fix it. Today's leaders don't have that excuse. We have both the knowledge and the tools to end this suffering."
Mann and Ornstein paint sad pictures of a House Republican Conference that is intentionally crippling Congress "at a time when the country faces unusually serious problems and grave threats."
Draper's book focuses on a bloc of Tea Party members elected in 2010 who pushed the nation to the brink of default over raising the debt ceiling because they saw the spending cuts that accompanied that increase as insufficient.
He quotes freshman Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) as saying: "I didn't come to Washington to be part of a team."
The word "bipartisanship" still has currency within the Washington, DC beltway, but Democrats and Republicans have two very different definitions of it. The word is obsolete out here where the rubber meets the crumbling roads and bridges. The fact that these politicians, Udall and Bennet especially, are still striving to find a bipartisan solution that will be mostly Republican-friendly policies (don't worry, Dems, we'll get 'em next time...and next time...and next time) is a sign of both political and economic incompetence.
Let me be clear: The "Grand Bargain" is bad politics and bad economics.
Our two rookie senators may dismiss the voters in Greece and France, but those voters have far more in common with us than the millionaires who ply the bubble-protected, marbled hallways of congress. If our local leaders continue to dismiss common sense, proven policy, and the vast majority of voters and enforce their own version of austerity to be called a "Grand Bargain", then they most likely will be one-term rejects, easily forgotten by history.
But their actions, if they buy into this bargain, will have negative effects on Coloradans for generations to come.
